Edward Olive is a Fine Art, wedding
& portrait photographer based out of Madrid, Spain.

Edward Olive was a commercial
litigation lawyer in London & Paris until throwing in the towel to pursue
his more artistic interests. Edward got into photography by chance only in
2005 when he purchased his first camera, an entry level digital reflex Canon
350d to shoot his own actor’s book on a tripod with remote control. Finding he
enjoyed the experience he started shooting actor and musician friends and the
people living and working in his neighborhood Chueca (Central Madrid’s
equivalent of Soho or Le Marais).

Dissatisfied with the focused
perfection of modern digital images and seeking an alternative look for his
pictures he started adapting analog lenses (he extracted from broken old
cameras with a large metal hammer we understand) onto his digital reflex using
masking tape and built DIY lighting from microphone stands, disco lights and
Kelvin correction gelatin discarded by technicians on his acting jobs.

In autumn 2006 he bought his first
film camera, a 1980’s Russian point-and-shoot (a cult Lomo LCA) using some very
expired color film they were throwing out of the local photography store.
Delighted with the dreamlike qualities and vintage colors, he hasn’t looked
back. He continues to shoot almost exclusively analog cameras, still preferring
the oldest expired film he can find, shunning the contemporary digital
post-produced Photoshop look of current commercial and fashion photography, in
favor of the grittier, earthier, unpredictability of expired film whether color
negative, slides, black & white or Polaroid type instant film. Edward
freely admits that it wasn’t until he bought his first Hasselblad in 2007 (the
classic V series 500c/m with Carl Zeiss lenses) that he really found his
instrument of choice. He still uses other cameras for reasons of variety,
speed, ultra fast lenses or the discretion and convenience of a 35mm compact
camera but takes a pair of V series Hasselblad 6×6 cameras, Mamiya M645 1000s and
wheelie bag loaded with 120 & 220 film backs and inserts, as he says, when
he really means business.

Edward’s pictures range from street
photography to nudes, often combining his location wedding travel to shoot
personal projects inspired by the new places and people, admitting he still
takes more photos for himself just for fun than he does to try and sell later
to clients, taking some consolation from the new ideas that come from
expression, reinvention and experimentation, free from any commercial pressures,
that can later be applied at work to put food on the table. Edward aims to
project in his work the contrasts and contradictions that exist within him and
within people in general. He wears Italian silk suits to work but takes some
shots that step out of line. He uses perhaps the world’s best cameras and
lenses yet feeds at times them with the worst Chinese made “black & white”
film that has in reality neither black nor white dreamy red blurred images. A
combination of the perfect public image and internal private thoughts that
combine to make up the people we are, conforming and breaking society’s norms.
His aim is to one day attain the vocal control of Pavarotti yet to turn it on
its head “Sex Pistols style” refusing to sing correct notes.

Ironically Edward has said from his
earliest years he never wanted to get married himself, even admitting that just
seeing the grooms standing at the front of the cathedrals with everyone looking
gave him a cold sweat until photographic matters got him back to thinking
shutter speeds on the little kids running around at the back of the
congregation and the inadvertent rising up of female guests’ dresses. Recently
there has been a slight softening of his hard line, stating that if he ever did
get hitched it would be as Elvis in Las Vegas with the bride as Marilyn on
YouTube with only one photo taken, preferably of the bride and preferably
without all her clothes, which would be the role of the only guest.

Artistically Edward lists influences that
include Patrick Demarchelier, Jean Loup Sieff, Guy Bourdin, Jane Bown, Nigel
Parry, Norman Parkinson, Cecil Beaton, John Deakin, David Bailey, Brian Duffy,
Terence Donovan, Terry O’Neill…. However he feels that more important than
seeking same medium influences are other sources of inspiration whether other
artistic media such as music, literature, dance o quite simply the world you
live in.